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Film Stuff
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Forget any off-screen impressions you may have of Mel Gibson, and experience

Apocalypto as the mad, bloody runaway train that it is. The story is set in the

pre-Columbian Maya population: one village is brutally overrun, its residents

either slaughtered or abducted, by a ruling tribe that needs slaves and human

sacrifices. We focus on the capable warrior Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood), although

Gibson skillfully sketches a whole population of characters--many of whom don\'t

survive the early reels. Most of the film is set in the dense jungle, but the

middle section, in a grand Mayan city, is a dazzling triumph of design, costuming,

and sheer decadent terror. The movie itself is a triumph of brutality, as Gibson

lets loose his well-established fascination with bodily mortification in a litany

of assaults including impalement, evisceration, snakebite, and bee stings. It\'s a

dark, disgusted vision, but Gibson doesn\'t forget to apply some very canny moviemaking

instincts to the violence--including the creation of a tremendous pair of villains

(strikingly played by Raoul Trujillo and Rodolfo Palacias). The film is in a Maya